International Jazz Festival Bern
Overview
Intro
When the bass rumbles through the streets, the saxophone puts a spring on your step and a husky voice warms your heart, you'll know that jazz is back in Bern. Every spring, the Swiss capital plays host to the International Jazz Festival.
Hans Zurbrügg, known to the locals as “Mr Jazz”, founded the festival in 1976. Unlike the Montreux Jazz Festival, the Bern event has never relied on pop stars to generate mass appeal. As a result, the Bern Jazz Festival still attracts die-hard fans to this day. They come to hear the leading lights of the international jazz scene and, as you'd expect, all the great names have been here: from B.B. King and Fats Domino to Ella Fitzgerald and Etta James.
The concerts are held in Marians Jazzroom at the Hotel Innere Enge, a stylish venue with seating for 135 guests. Zurbrügg used to play trumpet in a jazz band himself while also working as a hotelier. His son now runs the operational side of the festival, though Zurbrügg is still chairman of the organising association – and will continue to bring the spirit of New Orleans to Bern for ten weeks every spring.
The content presented here is provided and updated by regional/local tourist offices or event organisers, which is why Switzerland Tourism is unable to guarantee the correctness of the contents.
Verein Internationales Jazzfestival Bern
Engestrasse 54
3012
Bern
Switzerland
Phone
+41 (0)31 309 61 11
Fax +41 (0)31 309 61 51
k.gehri@jazzfestivalbern.ch
